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Since March 2019, when Royal Decree-Law 6/2019 of 1 March, on urgent measures to guarantee equal treatment and opportunities between women and men in employment and occupation, was published, Article 28.2 of the Spanish Workers’ Statute (ET) was amended, establishing that:
“The employer is obliged to keep a register containing the average values of salaries, salary complements and non-salary payments of its workforce, broken down by sex and distributed by professional groups, professional categories or jobs of equal or equivalent value.
Employees have the right to access, through the legal representation of employees within the company, their company’s salary register.”
Herewith, we provide a brief summary of Royal Decree 902/2020 of 13 October, on equal pay between women and men, which regulates new formal requirements for companies with the aim of tackling the gender pay gap, including the salary register and equal pay audit.
1. Purpose and scope
The purpose of the regulation is to establish specific measures to ensure effective equal treatment and non-discrimination in remuneration between women and men, developing mechanisms to identify, correct and combat any discrimination that may exist in the field of pay.
It shall apply to all employment relationships governed by the Workers’ Statute, both ordinary and special.
2. Salary register
In accordance with Article 28.2 of the Workers’ Statute, all companies (regardless of their size) are required to have a salary register covering their entire workforce, including senior management and executives.
The salary register is a document which must include, broken down by sex, the average values of salaries, salary complements and non-salary payments of the workforce. With regard to salaries, both the arithmetic mean and the median of the amounts actually received must be calculated for each of these items within each professional group, professional category, level, position or any other applicable classification system. In turn, such remuneration must be broken down according to the nature of the remuneration, including base salary, each of the salary complements and each of the non-salary payments, specifying each item separately.
3. Access to the register
Employees may access the register where there is no legal representation of employees; otherwise, access must be channelled through the employees’ representatives.
The information to be provided by the company shall not consist of the average data relating to the actual amounts of remuneration included in the register, but shall be limited to the percentage differences, broken down according to the nature of the remuneration and the classification system, existing between the average remuneration of men and women.
The reference period shall generally be the calendar year. However, amendments may be made where necessary in the event of any substantial change affecting any element of the salary register.
The format of the document may follow that established on the websites of the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy and the Ministry of Equality.
For the preparation of the register, employee representatives must be consulted at least 10 days in advance.
4. Salary register in companies required to carry out an equal pay audit
Companies with 50 or more employees that are required to implement an equality plan must include an equal pay audit within such plan.
The purpose of this audit is to obtain the necessary information to verify whether the company’s remuneration system, in a comprehensive and cross-cutting manner, complies with the effective application of the principle of equality between women and men in terms of pay. It must also make it possible to identify the needs required to avoid, correct and prevent existing or potential obstacles and difficulties, in order to guarantee pay equality, as well as to ensure transparency and the monitoring of the remuneration system.
The equal pay audit shall have the same duration as the equality plan, unless a shorter period is established therein.
5. What does the equal pay audit imply?
Carrying out a diagnosis of the remuneration situation within the company, which requires:
- Job evaluation.
- Identification of other factors giving rise to pay differences, as well as any deficiencies or inequalities detected.
- Establishing an action plan to correct pay inequalities.
- Designating the person or persons responsible for monitoring and implementing improvements based on the results obtained.
6. Consequences of failing to implement the salary register
The Regulation develops the penalties provided for in the Law on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order for those companies that falsify or fail to prepare such remuneration information. In such cases, the applicable penalties for discrimination may be imposed, which, as a very serious offence, may reach up to €187,515, with a minimum of €6,251.
Do you need assistance with the preparation of the salary register or the equal pay audit? Please contact us.
Employment and Labour Law|ESG - Regulatory Compliance and Sustainability description Article
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